"Soldier's Joy" is a
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
tune, classified as a reel or country dance.
It is popular in the
American fiddle canon, in which it is touted as "an American classic"
but traces its origin to
Scottish fiddling
Scottish fiddling may be distinguished from other folk fiddling styles by its particular precision of execution and energy in the delivery, for example, the rendering of the dotted-quaver/semi-quaver rhythmic patterns, commonly used in the Straths ...
traditions.
It has been played in Scotland for over 200 years, and Robert Burns used it for the first song of his cantata 'The Jolly Beggars'.
According to documentation at the United States Library of Congress,
it is "one of the oldest and most widely distributed tunes"
and is rated in the top ten most-played
old time fiddle
Old time fiddle is a genre of American folk music. "Old time fiddle tunes" derived from European folk dance tunes such as Jig, Reel, Breakdown, Schottische, Waltz, Two Step and Polka. The fiddle may be accompanied by banjo or other instr ...
tunes. The tune dates as early as the 1760s.
In spite of its upbeat tempo and catchy melody, the term "soldier's joy" has a much darker meaning than is portrayed by the tune. This term eventually came to refer to the combination of whiskey, beer, and morphine used by
American Civil War soldiers to alleviate pain.
Score
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\new ChordNames \chordmode
\new Staff \relative c''
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Melody as basis for song
Like many pure tunes with ancient pedigree, the melody of Soldier's Joy has been used as a basis for construction of songs, which, unlike pure tunes, have lyrics.
Robert Burns wrote lyrics for the tune in which a dismembered, homeless veteran sarcastically recounts his delight with battle.
Civil War era and post-bellum cultural references
The tune came to represent substance use to alleviate pain during the Civil War.
[ This is corroborated in concurring secondary sources.
The IHIC version is as follows:
]
Country
See also
* Old-time music
* Skillet Lickers
* Banjo
The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...
* Appalachian music
* Sam Stone (song)
References
External links
* Jeff Todd Titon's ''Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes'' (University of Kentucky Press)
Digital Library of Appalachia
provides online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region. The contents of the DLA are drawn from special collections of Appalachian College Association member libraries.
1929 Skillet Lickers film clip
with commentary
Henry Reed
Library of Congress mp3
*
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Bluegrass songs
American folk songs
Songs about the military
Songs about alcohol
Songs about soldiers
Performing arts pages with videographic documentation
Old-time music
Songs with lyrics by Robert Burns